I’ve been applying for jobs with several different companies and have recently heard back from a few. These companies have asked me to complete art tests that pertain to the specific job (i.e. model a character for character artist job, model an environment for environment artist job). I was wondering if this was common practice among employers. It seems odd to me that they would request further examples when they are expressing intrest after seeing my demo reel. Has anybody else had similar experiences or can anybody offer me some advice on how to handle these requests?
I read a lot on the internet about it and it’s not perceived very well. An experienced artist told me once that this is a behavoiur mostly associated to larger shops where the processing of reels and resumes is already detached from the original source which requested a resource for a specific position. You have to feel it out yourself. And you have to make a decision how far you bend over backwards to get into a specific spot. Anycase… what do I know ;}
Lemo
To sum it up briefly…if you don’t the next guy will!!
How bad do you want the job?
…As opposed to Orthographic Employers?
Regarding the question, this is standard procedure. They`re not trying to get art for free, they just want to be 100% sure you can do the specific job, to order and in the timeframe assigned.
Cheers,
R
Hi,
Many companies employ young and enthusiatic ex grads, + students because they are prepared to work very long hours, to a very high standard for little, or no money.
These ‘young people’ hope if they do this for a couple of years, they will eventually be taken on full time for a decent wage.
Then after a couple of years they find the employer doesn’t need to pay them after all, because they have found an enthusiastic young ex student a couple of years younger than you, that will do your work for free !
I’m not bitter of course !!! :mad:
Hey,
One of my mates recently encountered a series of “art tests” for an employer. Ive known a few folk who have had to do these, and it seems to be fairly standard procedure. Watch out tho, my mate was being strung along for months (this was for a fairly small company) making models for free, which were going into their final product. He was then dropped and basically told that not only was he not gonna get paid the money he had been promised, but his name wasn’t gonna be on the finished product. Sucks to be him… dont let it be you
Art tests are a games industry thing as far as I know. I don’t know of the film world doing it. Maybe at a larger place looking to hire a bunch of students.
I’m not sure how common place they are, but i think for entry positions (cuz your right out of school or have little experience its an little insurance policy that they are not hiring a lemon).
I think also when ppl are on the fence about your reel it is a way to get more artwork/info out of you to base a decision on.
Not having any exposure to this, take what I say with a grain of salt…
…but one thing you could do is get them to set a timeframe for what it is they’ve asked you to do (if they haven’t already). Then, inquire as to what the procedure is once you complete the task. If they can’t be specific about it, be careful.
Personally I think the whole ‘art test’ thing is a little dumb. If they like your portfolio work, it’d be better for them to get you in and do some work to test your abilities properly. But, that’s just me 
I’m with Reactor here…
Who’s going to lie about the timeframe for a piece verbally or written…?
They check out your portfolio, and then ‘ask’ you how long that piece or other took you to complete -
You’d look pretty stupid if you landed the gig and didn’t conform to your estimate
I’d say it was nothing more than a ruse to ‘feel out’ the more desperate and easily manipulated candidates…
Of course, I’d expect employers to defend the above 